Watermill Young Company - You Can’t Take It With You

Timing key to youth theatre success

Watermill Young Company: You Can’t Take It With You, at The Watermill, Bagnor from Wednesday, November 13 to Saturday, November 16

George S Kaufman and Moss Hart's 1937 Pulitzer prize-winning play
You Can't Take It With You was enthusiastically performed by the
talented members of the Watermill Young Company, astutely directed by Seamus
Allen, who managed to tease out every comic element from his zestful cast in
what was a highly entertaining evening of fun.

The staging had been transferred from New York to 1930s London, solving
any issues with American accents, and designer Toots Butcher created an
ingenious set filled with an assortment of bric-a-brac including a tank of
snakes.

The eccentric fun-loving Sycamore family are a bohemian lot, determined
to live each day in the pursuit of happiness.

Grandfather Martin, confidently played by Alex Lonsdale, retired from
work 35 years ago and has paid no income tax ever since. When the Inland
Revenue finally catches up with him Mr Henderson (Samuel Steele-Childe) asks
"Don't you think we should pay for the Prime Minister and the House of
Commons?" - to which the sharp witted answer is "Yes, but not with my
money".

Genevieve McCallum is the dotty mother Penelope who has given up painting
to become a playwright when a typewriter was accidently delivered five years
ago.

Down in the basement Paul (William Barrett) makes fireworks with some
truly explosive results. He is helped by Mr De Pinna (Mario Jones) who
arrived several years ago for dinner and just stayed. All great fun.

Daughter Essie (Amy Folland) wants to be a ballerina and her
xylophone-playing husband Ed (Steffan Padel) simply dotes on her.

By contrast, her fashion-conscious sister Alice (Talitha Wing) appears to
he the only sane member of the family.

When she falls in love with Tom (Tom Fisher), the son of the prim and
proper orchid-growing vice president of Kirby and Co (Chris Baker), trouble
abounds, especially when the Kirbys are invited to meet the Sycamores.

Unfortunately they arrive for dinner a day early, causing consternation
since there is no food in the house and Mrs Kirby (Elizabeth Dunmore) is
overcome with the goings on.

Into this mad, chaotic household, we meet Mrs Wellington (Catriona
Suttie) who has arrived to read one of Mrs Sycamore's plays and quickly
becomes inebriated, with hilarious results.

Elliot Laker boldly portrayed the ballet master Boris and Miranda Porter
was majestic as the Duchess Olga but she was really only a waitress. There
was good support from Emilie Butter as one of the men.

Any comedy of this quality demands perfect timing and this energetic cast
had it in abundance and they seemed to be enjoying every minute of the
production, as did the appreciative audience.